Asthma Attack
by Ana01
Summary: What if Anakin had severe asthma attacks at the worst of times? What if cold planets set it off tenfold? What if he forgot his inhaler and had an asthma attack surrounded by untrained friends? Read, and find out!
1. Chapter 1

The planet Drucula was a cold and forbidding planet. Temperatures were always below 10 degrees and natives treated visitors with hostility. But recently, the Separatist fleet had invaded Drucula. First capturing the natives, and then destroying endangered wildlife. Before the droids had smashed into the control room of the palace, the elected leader of Drucula, Tim'Gwa Bedow had sent an emergency request to the Senate for immediate action. The Senate, as always was slow to process this request. By the time word had reached the Jedi of Drucula's situation, 2 months had already gone by and it was uncertain if the natives were still alive.

Anakin stood next to Obi-Wan in the council room waiting impatiently for the briefing to begin. It had been months since his last mission and he had spent weeks walking around the halls of the Jedi Temple aimlessly, hoping for a mission. And then Obi-Wan had been summoned to the council room for a briefing. They had been waiting for at least 25 minutes. Anakin looked at his chrono for the sixteenth time in the past 5 minutes. Obi-Wan gave him a cool glance that was a clear message: _Act like a Jedi. Wait patiently. The council will talk when they are ready to talk. _Anakin looked at Obi-Wan and could see impatience in his green-blue eyes. Finally, Anakin had had enough. He opened his mouth to address the council, but just then the door to the council room slid aside and Anakin heard footsteps. He turned, and to his dismay say Siri Tachi walk in. It wasn't Siri he had a problem with, it was just the THING that always followed her that he…disliked. Ferus Olin strode in and gave Anakin a cool greeting nod. Anakin just looked at him coldly. But his cold stare quickly changed to one of welcome as his best friend Tru Veld walked in. Tru was almost bouncing up and down with excitement, while his master Ry-Gaul strode in with his hands behind his back. Ry-Gaul was an almost silent Jedi, and only spoke what needed to be said. Anakin had once asked Tru how he had learnt anything. Tru had given him a strange look and told him that talking wasn't everything. Behind Ry-Gaul, Darra Thel-Tanis bounded in, her ribbon-weaved padawan braid dangling hazardously from behind her ear. She grinned at him and took her place next to her master, Soara Antana. Soara was a renowned fighter and had a very strong personality. She looked at Anakin and nodded a greeting. Anakin's smile very quickly disappeared and he gave her a nod. He didn't really like her. A couple of years ago, Darra had been injured in the middle of a battle and it had been Anakin's fault. Soara had taken him under her wing and agreed to give him private lightsaber tutorials while Darra recovered. Anakin had done his absolute best, but after letting some anger slip while he was practising lightsaber skills with Ferus, She had told him that he would never be a great Warrior. He still held that against her, even though she had tried to be friendly and talk to him whenever possible. Anakin's attention was suddenly drawn when Master Windu began talking.  
"We have received an emergency call to the planet of Drucula." He began. Anakin started. Anakin did not do well on cold planets. Cold planets for some reason made his asthma worse. Any small amount of irritation and he was having a full blown asthma attack. The last time he had been on a cold planet, Obi-Wan had to carry him across snow covered mountains for 3 days, all while he had a plastic respirator over his mouth and nose and was spasming almost constantly. He had spent a week in the med centre recovering. Anakin had talked to the council afterwards about it and requested never to go on another cold planet. Master Windu had told him he was being a child, and should grow up, but he HAD agreed with the council. Mace looked at Anakin and saw the look in Anakin's eyes and mouthed _we'll talk later._  
2 months ago, Tim'Gwa Bedow sent an emergency request for Senate assistance after their planet was invaded by Separatists. Obi-Wan looked at Mace incredulously.  
"2 months?! How on earth do you expect us take back a planet when the Separatists have had 2 months to get comfortable?" Mace gave Obi-Wan a look that Anakin thought would have cowed even him. But Obi-Wan just looked at Mace until the Jedi Council Member talked.  
"As you well know, the Senate," Mace looked at Obi-Wan pointedly, "takes a while to process requests."  
At that, Anakin felt he had to break in.  
"Emergencies take precedence, though, right?"  
Mace immediately turned his sharp gaze on Anakin, who looked straight back at him unflinchingly. Finally, Ry-Gaul broke in.  
"I think we should allow Master Windu to continue," he said. "It is obviously a very important mission."  
Anakin thought for a minute, then turned around and started to walk away.  
"Sorry, I can't go."


	2. Chapter 2

Anakin sat in his 'quarters' aboard the Nubian starship on course to Drucula. After he had stormed out of the council room, Obi-Wan had followed him to his quarters.  
"I cannot BELIEVE you just did that!" He almost screamed at Anakin. "You are going there whether I have to drag you to the ship or not!" Anakin flushed with anger.  
"You were the one who had to carry me across snow covered mountains! And now you are questioning my decision!?" Obi-Wan looked at him with an almost-understanding look.  
"I know, but to show that much disrespect to the Council is just outrageous! Do you know what example you set for the other apprentices?" Anakin looked at Obi-Wan with a look that could not be described as anything.  
"I am almost 100% sure that the other apprentices are used to my… noble actions by now." Obi-Wan snorted loudly, then quickly stopped when he realised he was letting Anakin away with his behaviour.  
"Pack your survival kit. Don't forget your asthma kit and respirator."  
"Planning ahead, are we?" Anakin muttered.  
"What was that?" Obi-Wan asked. Anakin just sighed, pushed Obi-Wan out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

3 days had passed since they had arrived on Drucula. Anakin was surprised to find that he had had no shortness of breath or any symptom of asthma since he had arrived. Although, he thought you couldn't really have had any asthma symptoms when you haven't really done anything. All the Jedi had done since arriving was establish a border and send a transmission to the separatists asking to negotiate. So far they had received no reply back, and were 'waiting patiently'. Unfortunately, the Jedi had established a very small border, and because Anakin was not at all happy with being there in the first place, it was a very tight camp. Anakin and Ferus were almost constantly arguing, and Obi-Wan was thinking about investing in some good quality ear plugs. Tru and Darra now were always trying to separate the hot-headed padawans, but did not always succeed. It was a Godsend when the separatists finally sent a transmission back: They were ready to negotiate. Obi-Wan took Anakin to their quarters and they helped each other pack up their things. In under an hour, everything was in bags ready to go. Suddenly, Anakin thought of something very important that he had not seen the entire time. Frantically, he ripped open his travel packs and began searching each one. Not there. Anakin very quickly packed up his things again and thought about how on earth he was going to tell Obi-Wan. Luckily he wouldn't have to bring it up. Obi-Wan brought it up at the night time meal. They were all sitting in a circle around the campfire eating their rations, when Obi-Wan realised that he hadn't seen the survival kit the entire trip.  
"Anakin, where is your survival kit?" Anakin looked up guiltily. He, in fact, had been thinking about the exact same thing the whole meal. Obi-Wan looked at him in disbelief.  
"So, the same person who was yelling at me about having a severe asthma attack on Drucula forgot to bring his asthma kit?"  
'And respirator," Anakin said quietly.  
"WHAT!?" Darra and Tru jumped. The other masters looked at one to another uncomfortably. Ry-Gaul was the first to react.  
"Tru, come." He stood up and walked over to his and Tru's tent. Tru followed. Before he disappeared inside, he looked back at Anakin and mouthed 'good luck'. It did nothing to dispel the horrible feeling that Anakin had. He was going to be lectured about this all night. He barely noticed when Darra said good night to him, and when Siri and Ferus stood up and left. The only person who stayed was Soara.  
_Damn. _Thought Anakin. _The one person who I REALLY don't want to hear this.  
_Obi-Wan was looking at Anakin with a thunderous look on his face. Anakin took one look at that VERY angry face, and suddenly was very sure of something:

He. Was. Doomed.

* * *

**Sorry for such a short chapter, I'm very excited about the next chapter! Chapter 3 will be out in the next couple of days (maybe even a couple of hours, im hooked on this story) =)**


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you think that the Separatists will just hand over an inhaler and smile at you when you are in the middle of an asthma attack?" So far, Obi-Wan's shouting had only included stuff about Separatists not caring, and that he can't even send him back to the temple because they didn't have enough firepower to get past the guarded airspace. Anakin was doing all he could not to cover his ears and groan out loud. That would be a BIG mistake. One thing that was surprising Anakin was that Soara had not said a word. She had just sat there watching Obi-Wan yell and scream at Anakin for forgetting his inhaler and continually talking about Separatists. Anakin was beginning to wonder if Soara had developed a disease that made her mute. He hoped so. She was such a buzzkill on good days. On your bad days? She was a nightmare.  
"…because Separatists do NOT have inhalers lying around for Jedi apprentices to survive on!"  
"Why not ask them?" Anakin shot back, thoroughly sick and tired of Obi-Wan's raving. Obi-Wan looked absolutely thunderous, and Anakin suddenly regretted saying anything. But before Obi-Wan could say anything, Soara broke in.  
"Can I speak to Anakin for a minute?" Obi-Wan looked at Soara in surprise.  
"You can have him. I'm done with him for the night." And with that, he turned around and stormed back to his and Anakin's quarters. Anakin put his head in his hands. This day could not get any better. His head immediately snapped up when Soara uttered her first few words.  
"Anakin…" Her voice trailed off uncertainly. "You know how Obi-Wan mentioned something about you deliberately leaving your survival kit behind?"  
"Yeah… What abo – Hey! Wait just a minute! You think I deliberately left my kit at the temple!"  
Soara looked at him with a patronizing gaze, which wonderingly made Anakin infuriated.  
"Anakin, living with severe asthma would be hard on anyone. With you, it means that you have to sometimes not go on missions, spend days at the medical bay after an attack, and not be able to participate in all training tuition classes. It's hard, and I understand."  
"You understand what? How I can't go anywhere without a complete medical clearance test, I can't participate in light saber battles for long periods of time, I can't hang out with my friends at the lake, I can't stand up too long, I can't spend more than an hour walking without not being able to breathe? How do you understand? How _can_ you understand?" Soara looked at Anakin carefully and replied,  
"You're right. I can't really understand what you have to go through. I really can't. I think you just want to be normal; be able to do things with friends, be able to live normally. But you can't. It's not your fault."  
"Is this realization going to lead anywhere, or can I head back to my quarters?" Anakin interrupted, annoyed. Soara looked at him sternly for the first time that night.  
"I think that your need to be normal has convinced you that you can be normal. So you deliberately 'forgot' your survival kit. You wanted to prove to yourself that you could be normal. Anakin…" Soara reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder.  
" let me tell you something. You ARE normal. You were never different or special. You have something that all we don't have."  
"Yeah, severely stupid lungs," muttered Anakin bitterly.  
"NO! You have and are going through pain. Pain leads to – "  
"I know, I know. Suffering, and suffering leads to fear, and fear leads to… Hey! Are you saying that I'm going to turn to the dark side?"  
"No, I was GOING to say suffering, but not the rest. Pain leads to suffering, and if you choose the right path, that suffering will lead to compassion for those also suffering. You have something that the rest of us don't, Anakin. You have the ability to understand the needs of others, by reflecting on your own needs. That is a great gift. USE it, Anakin." Anakin looked up and smiled, then a sparkle of mischief lit up his eyes.  
"Sure. Take the gift of compassion, save others, help others and become a great hero!  
Please note: Terms and Conditions state that in order to get this AMAZING offer, you must first subscribe to 'Severely Stupid Lungs Society'. They will ensure maximum suffering is endured."  
Soara looked at Anakin for a minute.  
"All that stuff I said about you wanting to be normal…" Anakin looked at her.  
"Yeah?" Soara sighed and looked directly at him.  
"You never deliberately left your survival kit at the temple, did you? You just forgot it, didn't you?"  
Anakin looked at her with a grin.  
"Yep."  
"So I just wasted about 10 minutes of my extremely important life telling you a bunch of crap?"  
"Yep." Soara's face suddenly put on an extremely exasperated look. Anakin thought this would be the perfect time to pay her back for all those years of criticism and buzz-killing.  
"Don't worry, Soara. You only boosted my ego by about 80 percent. No big deal."  
"Shut up, Anakin."  
"I feel so touched."  
"Shut up, Anakin"  
"If only I had known how much you really cared for me… oh, I could have lived my life so differently."  
"SHUT UP, ANAKIN!"  
"I'll be sure to tell everyone just how much you care." Soara jumped up, and picked up the nearest weapon. This happened to be Anakin's marshmallow stick.  
"If you don't shut up, I will hit you with this until you have an asthma attack! I don't care if you die!"  
Anakin jumped back and covered his face with his hands.  
"No, no, please! Please don't hurt my marshmallow stick!" Soara looked at him, exasperated. She dropped the stick and smiled thinly at him.  
"Good night, Anakin."  
"Night, Soara. Don't let the bed bugs bite." Soara glared, and finally turned and walked away. Anakin, mustering up his most apologetic voice called out,  
"Soara?" Soara turned with a raised eyebrow, waiting for the expected apology.  
"It really was a great speech, though."


End file.
